This is a record of my journey as a Muslim. I used to be Catholic and belonged to a missionary organisation. After my conversion, I sat on the board of a Muslim converts' organisation and specialised in da'wah programmes, convert management, interfaith issues and apostasy cases. I am an initiate of a Sufi order. As such, the articles and writings tend to cover these areas.
All the Arabic and graphics could not have been done without the help of my wife, Zafirah.

Thursday, 25 October 2012

Hajj of Shaykh Ibrahim Niyas (q.s.)

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ
ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

The following was kindly provided by Ustadz Fakhruddin
Owaisi at-Tijani. We share here some of
Shaykh- al-Haj Ibrahim Niyas’ (q.s.)
experiences during his first hajj in
1937, as described in his al-Rihlah al-Hijaziyyah,
“Travelogue of the Hijaz.” The Swahib
al-Faydhah (q.s.) described his inward
experience of the hajj thus:

“I removed my clothes today to adorn the ihram,

And my heart removed all other than You, in honour of You.

And indeed, when I circumambulate around the Noble House,

O My Lord! My heart has
encamped around Your Being,

And my running between the two mountains (of Swafa’ and Marwah),

Is complimentary to my running
between Your Attributes (of Jalal and
Jamal).”

Upon looking at the Blessed Ka’bah for the
first time, Shaykh Ibrahim (q.s.)
said, “O Allah! I intend to draw closer
to You by looking at Your Sacred House with the same intention by which Your
Prophet (s.a.w.) used to look at it.”

The Shaykh (q.s.)
also used to read his Divinely-Inspired du’a,
the Kanz al-Awliya’ in front of the
Sacred Door of the Ka’bah. About the
holy plains of ‘Arafah, Shaykh Ibrahim (q.s.)
wrote:

“I pronounce the Labbayk
of a one who has known and arrived

From Kaolack, the furthest point of the world to ‘Arafah.

And all praise, in this and that, is for the Lord.

For the slave has no say in
the matter, if he only knew.”

Shaykh Ibrahim (q.s.) would also make this du’a
when shaving the hair of his head after the pilgrimage:

“O Allah! This is my forehead in Your Hands! So Recompense me for every hair, a light on
the Day of Judgment. Bless my
livelihood, Forgive my sins and Accept my actions.”

As for the City of the Prophet (s.a.w.), Madinah al-Munawwarah, Shaykh Ibrahim
(q.s.) had written thousands of
couplets in praise and yearning for it. More
than half of his Diwan is about that.
Ustadz Fakhruddin Owaisi at-Tijani translated
a few couplets from the days of his visit to Madinah ath-Thaybah:

“O Thaybah of the Chosen Prophet! How sweet is your fragrance!

Indeed, all beauty is
encompassed in your appearance!

You have surpassed Makkah, as Makkah is Honoured by the House,

And the House was ordained by
Thaha (s.a.w.), so glad-tidings to
you!

So accept greetings from me to you,

As long as the angels of Allah
roam around the shrine of the Prophet (s.a.w.).”

Shaykh Ibrahim (q.s.) also recited Sirr az-Ziyarah
when he visited the Blessed tomb of the Crown of Creation, Sayyidina Rasulullah
(s.a.w.). Shaykh Ibrahim (q.s.) also wrote, “And among the signs of the Acceptance of our du’a and Fulfillment of all our desires
was that whenever we would lift our hands for du’a, the rain would pour. This
happened with the ‘abd al-faqir by
the Ka’bah, by ‘Arafah, and by Mina. And
there were other matters which I cannot reveal.”

The noble caretaker of the Holy Ka’bah, Shaykh ‘Abdullah
ash-Shaybi (q.s.) also gave Shaykh
Ibrahim (q.s.) the rare permission to
be alone inside the Holy Ka’bah with some of his disciples.

His Eminence, the Emir of Kano, Sultan Abdullahi
Bayero, prayed to meet the Quthb al-Ghawts
of the Tijaniyyah in the precincts of
the Blessed Ka’bah, and then immediately saw Shaykh Ibrahim (q.s.) before him. Thereafter, he took the Thariq at-Tijani from Shaykh Ibrahim (q.s.) in front of the Maqam Ibrahim and invited him to make his
visit to Nigeria, where tens of thousands entered the thariqa’.

Shaykh Ibrahim (q.s.) mentioned that a person in Jeddah whom he recognised as Khidhr
(a.s.) informed him that he was a quthb of the age. He also mentioned that a Moroccan Sharif from
Fez greeted him at the corner of the Holy Ka'bah and told him that he was
informed by one Makkan wali that he
would meet the ghawts of the age at
the corner of the Ka’bah during the hajj
that year, and because of the presence of the ghawts, everyone else’s hajj
would be Accepted. Shaykh Ibrahim (q.s.) asked the Sharif, “So who did you
meet at the Corner of the Ka'bah?”

The
Sharif replied, “You.”

Shaykh Ibrahim (q.s.) also mentioned that in the holy plains of Mina, a wali met him and told him, “You are a
man who has inherited the maqam of a man from the town of Fez.”

In Makkah as well, he was also given the
glad-tiding by the Moroccan wali who
migrated from Fez to Madinah, ash-Sharif Ahmad at-Tibir (q.s.), “I have seen you take over all the masharib,” referring to the methods and knowing of the Path.

All of this and more is ar-Rihlah al-Hijaziyyah, in which he documents his first hajj as well as his first visit to
Morocco. It is must read for anyone who
wishes to know more about the early years of the Faydhah. The travelogue
itself contains numerous ud’iyyah and
actions for every point of the hajj
and ziyarah, from leaving home to
entering it again. It also includes much
of Shaykh Ibrahim’s (q.s.)
experiences during his amazing journey to Makkah, Madinah and Fez.

Shaykh Ibrahim Niyas (q.s.) wrote that what he did not mention in his work is far more
than what he did: